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The League of Women Voters Austin Area and Fair Maps Texas invite you to take part in a Community Forum on Redistricting aimed at mobilizing our community for the Texas Legislature’s upcoming public input hearings.

Texas is beginning the process for the 2021 re-drawing of state and federal legislative districts. Starting in the fall of 2019, the Texas House Redistricting Committee is planning Public Input Hearings for the 2021 redistricting. Hearings are tentatively scheduled for Austin on September 10, 2019 and September 10, 2020.

We will be hosting a Community Forum to help citizens prepare testimony for the House Redistricting Committee’s hearings. The event will be broken down into three sections:

A convening for community groups to share about where their communities of interest lie;

A citizen training to familiarize community members with the current redistricting process and criteria used to draw district maps;

A breakout session for citizens to work on testimony and partner with community groups.

Public comments at the Committee hearingswill be used to assist the Legislature when it draws district boundaries. The focus of public testimony is to provide suggestions about improving the redistricting process and information about a region’s unique geographicand demographic characteristics from thoseresidents most familiar with their own neighborhoods. Speaking up about your community is critical to ensuring district lines are drawn to keep your community whole and grouped with nearby communities with similar interests. This ensures that your voice is heard by your elected leaders across all kinds of government decisions.